Over the past month I made this scenario. It is based on my earlier JTCS scenarios "The Grim Road To Hoogerheide" and "Kampfgruppe Chill Strikes Back". Since these were already a few years old, I did the whole research again.

I uploaded it here in the scenario section and over at the Wargamer. It's still pending approval so stay tuned.

Thanks to Tukker for teaching me the basics of designing in this game.

Tried this over the holidays - gotta say its heaps of fun and very interesting to play something else than the Bulge for a change

I managed to secure a minor victory after a dreadful 3-4 days of fighting over Hoogerheide and the the bloody Fallschirmjäger having dug in at Woensdrecht.

Paras also badly surprised my rear echelon troops and HQs at Ossendrecht, and they were forced to pull out in a rout... Price I pay for not reading up on the scenario beforehand I guess lol... Though I do like the extra element of surprise that comes from being ignorant of the historical background

My forces were completely exhausted at the end, most of them having lost almost 50% of their force, and I doubt they would have been able to hold off another german counterattack at Hoogerheide.

Like I said really good fun, and would've really liked another scenario continuing the fight to the north on the same map - towards Bergen/Rosendaal (historical or not)

Thanks for the feedback. I had the feeling the scenario could be a good challenge, but it can be hard to tell when the scenario maker is yourself. I thought the dynamics of this historical battle made it very suited for a scenario, as both sides were attacking and defending at the same time. There were more battles north of this area, although on a smaller scale. I'll see if I can come up with anything in the future to make this episode complete.

I tried out your scenario this evening. I'm really enjoying it. It's after midnight now and I have to go to bed. The game hands in the balance with the German 6 Para Regt nearly overrunning my Armd Regt at Huijbergen. I have had to order my second counterattack. This time its the Galgary Highlanders. Hopefully they can redress things. Otherwise, I'll have to withdraw and lick my wounds. Great stuff! Many thanks.

Who needs to sleep anyway. I decided on a bold ouflank manouvre by my reinforcements ( known as Saint Force ). They did a wide strategic hook in which they routed the enemy's base and are now approaching the enemy from their rear. This promisses to be good.

I just came across an error in your scenario while I was testing Marshal Villars saved game. My debug version of the game does a number of verification tests at startup and discovered a pile of intel enemy reports located at -1, -1 ( ie just off the map at the top left corner ). When I opened up your scenario and turn on the Intel Display Mode ( on the sidebar next to the StartMap ) you will see them clearly ). I suspect you decided you didn't want them and dragged them to the top left. What you need to do is simply lasso that stack of units and set the Enemy Intel Level to "No Intel". Then save your scenario and upload it to the website.

I just came across an error in your scenario while I was testing Marshal Villars saved game. My debug version of the game does a number of verification tests at startup and discovered a pile of intel enemy reports located at -1, -1 ( ie just off the map at the top left corner ). When I opened up your scenario and turn on the Intel Display Mode ( on the sidebar next to the StartMap ) you will see them clearly ). I suspect you decided you didn't want them and dragged them to the top left. What you need to do is simply lasso that stack of units and set the Enemy Intel Level to "No Intel". Then save your scenario and upload it to the website.

Thanks Arjuna. I was already wondering where that "sighting" came from. Since it doesn't have noticable impact on the game I didn't think much of it.

Hey Huib. Thanks for the scenario. I just had a first shot at it, as allies, with orders delay standard, but with reinforcements and supply in my favour, and had great fun. It was easy enough, I think with everything set in my favour. I had a lot of men to play with and did everything obvious - taking all the objectives by day 6. Biggest scrap was around Huibergen, but I held it easily. The axis surrendered on day 7. I'll play it with everything set to standard next - and will no doubt have to be more involved - but it was very enjoyable and engrossing even with the easy ride. Great stuff. Thanks. Would have been nice to have been able to go for Flushing and Middleburg afterwards. I know the area, as we live in Brussels at the moment. It's such a beautiful example of Dutch order - Walkeren especially (though this isn't quite in your scenario) - everything very neat, tidy, calm and, of course, new. I hadn't realised at all, when I visited, that so many people had died there. You would not believe there had been such fierce fighting, such horrific acts. One of the great things about this game series is that it is historical and accurate, so teaches you something too. Next time I take the road from Antwerp up through Holland I'll detour a little and look at it all with very different perceptions.

I should add - the scenario also inspired me to look into the history of the ofensive, about which I'd known nothing previously. I did know about the big battle for Walcheren, but not those covered by the scenario and shortly after.

Thanks. There are still a lot things related to the battle to be seen in that area. Foxholes, trenches etc. Although unfortunately rapidly disappearing, especially the last few years. In Holland authorities generally don't care about preservation of historical sites. The amphibious operations on Walcheren would be hard to present in this game series, but the operation previous to Walcheren, Operation Switchback the battle for the Breskens pocket is a good possibility.

There are some photos of this former battlefield on my website (that I haven't touched for way too long) Battlegroundstoday

Btw the scn should also be well playable from the German side (all options normal)

Huib, in terms of accuracy, is the airfield north-east of Hoogerheide where it was in '44? There's a larger area on Google earth further north which is an airfield, and the area you have marked as an airfield is forested and some kind of (possibly military) complex, with a running track etc. Assuming you have it right, which map did you use?

The current airfield is at a different location (more to the north). The old airfield now contains buildings of the new airbase, some woods and even an athletic track as I saw on Google Earth. The map I used is a 1943 German military 1:50.000 map. I actually have a 1940's 1:25.000 version as well but I didn't use that one.

Realistic. yes. That's what I do, Wodin. I wrote 'standard', I think, by accident. there is no 'standard' orders delay, in fact. I meant realistic. I agree, it's much more interesting that way, though I've certainly never been aware of getting inside the AI's command loop (or however it was Arjuna described it in the tutorial video) as a consequence.... :)

Thanks Huib. Fanatstic stuff. Great work on your part, I think. Where on earth did you manage to locate a German military map???

Another of the brilliant things about this game is that you can have google earth running alongside, to give a keener flavour of what is happening to the little counters.

Thanks Huib. Fanatstic stuff. Great work on your part, I think. Where on earth did you manage to locate a German military map???

I have some original WW2 maps (German and Allied) of this area, but these are 1:100.000. For better scale I used reprints, first bought separately at the topographical service here, later an atlas was released with all German 1:50.000 maps. I bought that one.

Well, that was certainly a different kettle of fish. I played it today on standard/default settings (still realistic delay) and it was a hard nasty fight. All I could manage was a draw. But it was a great scenario. The fighting at Huijbergen dragged everything in. I had to abandon Woensdrecht and got no where near the causeway. 4,500 kills on each side, roughly. The Germans got 60 points to my 46. I set off with roughly the same tactics I used when I played with supply and reinforcements set in my favour, and that meant I seriously underestimated the axis strength. The computer AI performed brilliantly, I think. Huijbergen was a massive fight, littered with surrenders, on both sides. To win this - as allies - I think you would need to really play intelligently with flanking manouevers and really micro manage the melee at Huijbergen, timing and coordinating attacks and not just letting the AI run with it. That's what I'll do next. It was a great scenario. I'm not super-experienced and I enjoyed this a little more than the Bulge defensive scenarios because it's nice to attack (I love the Epsom scanarios for the same reasons), because this one is of a really manageable size (with reinforcements arriving in neat packages), because you don't feel hemmed in by the map as you do with most Bulge defensive scenarios (the flanks look wide open for manouevers in this one) and then you also have to defend as well, which is great. A great choice and great job, I think. Thanks again. It doesn't feel like a fait accompli, whereas many of the Bulge scenarios do (you have to pity the Germans on those roads with all that heavy materiel) - though this is a strength, I'm sure, because looking at it historically you would have to think that Wacht am Rhein was a crazy idea, bound to fail.

Thanks Phoenix. Glad you enjoyed it. I really like the replayability of this game series. When I did the testrun playing as Allied the main fight was in Hoogerheide and the Causeway. Looks like the battle can take a whole different turn each time it is played.